Darugu jogged over with nine men, all of them wearing ill-intentioned looks.
"Hey, kid, our captain has taken a liking to your woman. Tough luck, showing up here."
"That's right, that's right. A little beauty like her ought to be serving our cap-"
Kazu swept his hand and hurled out a spatial collapse.
"Shut up!"
The air seemed to fracture. Before the ten men could finish speaking, that irresistible force tore their bodies apart. They did not even have time to scream.
"Ah, this..."
Silco and the others behind them had also caught up, just in time to see their subordinates killed instantly. Fear spread through their hearts, and their calves trembled.
Where had this monster come from? Why did he seem no better than that Marine Vice Admiral?
It was because Garp often returned to the East Blue on vacation, casually taking out a few pirate crews on his way back.
So they never stayed in one place, always moving after each raid. They would plunder one place today and another tomorrow.
Once they had enough money to spend, they would lie low for a while and enjoy life. After all, they could be alive today and dead tomorrow. Enjoying themselves while they could was what mattered.
Despite being so cautious, they had never expected to dodge Garp only to encounter another ruthless character today.
"Brother, this is all a misunderstanding."
"We..."
Seeing that these scumbags had finally learned fear, Kazu sneered. "A misunderstanding?"
"Don't tell me you came here to take a shit?"
Silco was exceptionally thick-skinned. A little humiliation meant nothing; staying alive came first.
"Ah, yes, we came here to take a group shit. You saw through us at a glance. You truly have a discerning eye."
Silco's words made both Kazu and Makino laugh. He had only said it offhand to humiliate the man, but he had not expected him to be so good at seizing an opening.
"All right, all right. Since you're here to take a shit, hurry up and get on with it."
"But relieving yourselves wherever you please isn't a good habit. Let me send you somewhere you can shit all you like without anyone calling you immoral."
Hearing the first half of Kazu's words, Silco was inwardly cursing his stupidity for actually believing they had come here to take a shit.
But the second half left Silco puzzled.
Send them somewhere they could shit whenever they wanted?
How come he had never heard of a place where they could shit freely without anyone calling them immoral?
Disgusted by him as well, Kazu could not be bothered to waste any more words. A transparent dome enveloped the pirates.
He sent the hundred-odd men straight into the sky, then clenched his right hand. The entire space instantly contracted, and the hundred-odd men, screaming and cursing incessantly, turned into a rain of blood in an instant and fell from the sky.
No one would stop them from shitting freely in the sea, though he did not know whether the fish would object.
Kazu had not let anything go to waste, either. Their flesh and blood fell into the sea, putting trash to use.
"Mmm, I feel a little better now."
Kazu wrapped his left arm around Makino's waist and gazed at the boundless sea.
This was the law of survival in the pirate world.
I'm strong, so my rules are the rules.
Kazu disliked these people, and he was strong, so he could decide whether these scumbags lived or died. That was the reality of it.
"Let's sleep on the ship today. The townspeople probably won't come out anytime soon."
Makino smiled and hugged Kazu's arm, looking up at him with eyes full of happiness.
The man I chose isn't just strong. He isn't an evil person, either, and he has his own principles. That's enough.
"True. They won't dare come out tonight. When they discover tomorrow that the pirates never came, things might return to normal."
The two returned to the ship, chatting and laughing. Since they were in a leisurely mood, they might as well do something they loved doing.
Early the next morning, the townspeople discovered that the pirates had not come into town to destroy things and plunder their money, and one by one, they plucked up the courage to emerge.
Word spread quickly. Over the course of the morning, the town returned to its usual bustle.
"Hey, are you pirates too?"
Kazu and Makino had just gotten up, though it was already nearly noon.
As soon as they stepped off the ship, they encountered a young man of about twenty holding a gun, staring warily at them.
"That's right, we are pirates. Do you need something, kid?"
Though Kazu was only eighteen, that did not stop him from taking advantage of his senior-sounding address. The young man opposite him did not pay much attention to being called a kid.
"Since you're pirates, you should know the Silco Pirates. Where are they?"
Only then did Kazu realize that this kid was apparently here to pick a fight with yesterday's bunch, judging by his aggressive tone.
"Them? They went into the sea for a group shitting party."
Kazu picked his ear with his little finger, then blew on it, looking perfectly relaxed.
But the young man felt he was being looked down on. This guy was treating him like an idiot.
"Damn pirates. Not a single one of you is any good. You can even spout nonsense like that."
"I chased them all the way here. They definitely landed on this island."
"I'll ask you one more time. Tell me where Silco and his crew are, or I won't be polite."
The young man's tone was hostile, and Kazu could sense his presence as well. He had some ability.
Unfortunately, he was an honest man, yet no one believed him when he told the truth. Where could he go to get justice?
Oh well. I've got nothing to do anyway. Let's see what this man can do and kill some time.
"Sure. I'd like to see how you plan to stop being polite. Don't worry. If you can beat me, I'll tell you where they are. How's that?"
Kazu's words completely set the man off. He raised his gun and aimed straight at Kazu.
Bang, bang, bang!
Three bullets instantly shot toward Kazu's head, chest, and lower abdomen at extremely tricky angles.
"Cheap tricks."
Kazu snapped his fingers. The space before him twisted, and the three bullets silently changed course, flying past his sides.
The young man was startled by the sight. What was going on?
His marksmanship was outstanding. He was his hometown's ace sniper.
And judging by both his sight picture and the feel of those three shots, he should not have missed.
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!
Refusing to believe it, the young man fired five more shots in succession. Their speed and tricky angles were enough to demonstrate his high level of marksmanship.
Faced with a lightning-fast five-shot volley, Kazu repeated his trick, unleashing another spatial distortion that altered the bullets' trajectories ahead of him. Once again, the bullets skimmed past him.
The young man had earned the title of human outline master, his skill second only to a certain sleazy, light-wielding Marine Admiral who held back enough to let an ocean through.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Your skills aren't up to much. Try a little harder. Let me see what you can really do."
Kazu's obnoxious manner was infuriating, but the young man was clearly no fool.
During that second attack, he had deliberately watched the bullets closely.
There had been nothing wrong during the first part of their flight. Toward the end, the bullets had suddenly deviated slightly from their original trajectories.
He had sensed a distortion in the surroundings. Some ability of his opponent's must have altered his bullets' trajectories, making it look as though he had missed.
It was not that his aim was poor, but rather that his opponent had an unknown ability.